If you have a passion for business and for food, then becoming a caterer might be one of the best career options for you. However to become a successful caterer in your local area, there are a few tips you will want to follow. 

Experience

If you are looking into the possibility of starting a catering business, you need to make sure you work for an experienced caterer first. If you are thinking that being a caterer is a walk in the park, you would be very wrong. Caterers may work for a weddings, events, parties and even business conferences; providing the best quality food possible for their clients. For you to really get a sense of what it is like to be a caterer, you need to make sure you shadow one for a while to get a feel for the profession. 

Rent a licensed kitchen

If you have shadowed someone for a while and you’ve decided that you are ready to be a caterer yourself: you will need to hire a licensed kitchen in the area. This is crucial because the kitchen must adhere to strict hygiene rules.

Prices

The price you set for your food will of course depend on the type of food you serve in your business. If you are going to be serving food like sandwiches and party food, then your prices will generally be lower than if you will be making a whole 3 course meal for a wedding or event. Think about how many hours you put into food preparation and also how much money you spend on the ingredients for your meals. Check here: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/set-catering-prices-12966.html for advise on pricing your services.

Rent equipment

Visit unifood.tech to help you start building up your kitchen arsenal as you start out as a caterer. However you don’t need to buy everything right away. Try renting out some of your equipment first and you will be able to decide how crucial it is for your business. 

Obtain business insurance

Before you get into trading, you will need to make sure you have business insurance. As a business owner you will be responsible if anything happens with the food or if someone becomes ill after the event. To prevent you from losing a great deal, you need to make sure you have a good policy to cover you for any action against you. 

Network with event planners

Start getting your name out there by attending wedding fairs and events in your area to network with planners and event organisers. That way you will be the person they call when they are tasked with creating that perfect event for their clients. 

Promote yourself

Set up some social media accounts and a website to promote your business to the wider world. A great idea would be to share not only photos of your food- but videos of you cooking the food from scratch. Food videos are incredibly popular and you will likely gain a large following from sharing rich content like this.